Windshield cleaner



Fb. 16, 1937. E. c. HORTON WINDSHIELD CLEANER Filed April 26, 35

. I INVENTOR rm kz 63/ /02? v @m. ATT RNEYs Gui Patented Feb. 16,;

UNITED STATES WINDSHIELD (mama Erwln C. Horton, Hamburg, N. Y., asslgnor to Trico Products Corporation, Buffalo, N. Y;

. Application April 26,1935, SerlaI No. Q1478 6 Claims.

The present invention relates to windshield cleaners for automobiles and other vehicles, and has particular relation to means for mounting the wiper arms of such cleaners to the support- '5 ing or; drive shafts thereof. a

The invention contemplates a shaft particularly formed to act as a fulcrum for the arm assembly and as a carrier for spring means to urge the wiper arm toward the surface-of the glass to be 10 wiped, and to a casing for spring and associated parts adapted to serve as the pivot means and to connect the arm to the shaft in such manner that it may be readily detached and replaced, without theuse of special tools. These and'other objects and'advantages will appear from the following description of one typical embodiment of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a windshield cleaner,

2o embodying the present invention, mounted upon thewindshield'of a vehicle;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the wiper arm mounting nieans, taken substantially along line 2-2 of Fig. a v

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the mounting-means; and

Fig. 4 is a section taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

As shown in Fig. 1, the windshield cleaner may include a motor ll, secured upon the header structure l2 above windshield glass l3 of the vehicle, the motor having a forwardly extendingshaft ll to which wiper carrying arm 20. is secured by the arm' mountingmeans' The free end of the arm carries and presses against the 35 windshield glass awiper blade 20'.

As shown in Fig. 3, the shaft i4 is deformed to provide a hump IS, the rear portion of which constitutes a shoulder, and a terminal portion l6 extending normal to the axis of the shaft proper, i. e. radially of the shaft proper and on the opposite diametrical side of the shaft from the shoulder. A casing member I! extends about the terminal portion it of the shaft, having a front wall l8, in a plane forward of the terminal por-' 45 tion, with rearwardly extending flanges or side walls is situated on opposite sides of the terminal portion. The upper wall 2| of the casing H has a depending lip-,22 seating upon the'shaft it behind shoulder,l5. At a level beneath the hollow 23 formed by the hump in the shaft, the rearward edge of the side walls 19 have forwardly and downwardly extending bayonet slots 24 for receiving trunnions 25 which project laterally from the upper end of a stirrup 26. The 55 latter is of slightly less width than the space between walls l9, and 'its lower end 21 is for- I wardly extended and provided with a key hole slot 28 for slidingly receiving the terminal portion It of the-shaft. Housed within the chamber, defined by casing 5 walls ll, I9,'l9 and stirrup member 26, and carried by terminal portion I6 of the shaft, is a coiled spring. The latter is normally under compression, one end bearing upon part 21 of the stirrup and the other end bearing upon a 10 collar 3i on the shaft. The effect of the spring is to retain the trunnions 25 seated in the recesses of the key hole slots 24, to' retain lip 22 of'the casing seated upon shaft l4 and against shoulder 15, and to urge the casing l1 and wiper arm 2|! (which mayqbe secured to the casing, as by fastener 32) toward the windshield glass, 1. e.-in a counter-clockwise direction relative'to the shaft (as the parts appear in Fig. 3) the seat of lip 22 upon the juncture of shaft proper M with shoulder l5 constitutingthe pivot'axis 33. During normal operation of the cleaner, shaft I4 is oscillated by the motor II, and this motion will, of course, be .imparted tothe casing I] and arm2fl to move the wiper blade 20 in an arcuate' 25 path over the windshield surface. During such action the blade will be pressed-firmly into wip ing contact with the glass by reason of spring ill.

The spring, being almost coinpletely encased, is protected from the elements and foreign matter. Removal of the blade, for cleaning parts or replacement, may beefiected'upon lifting the arm 20 from the glass, about the pivot axis 33, during which action spring I9 is further compressed due.

to movement of stirrup part 21. along terminal portion 16 toward the axis of the shaft.

To effect removal of the arm and mounting assembly from the shaft, the stirrup 26 and easing l9 are raised, and the casing angularly deflected, to the positions indicated by broken 40 lines in Fig. 3-, and the casingthen moved forwardly and upwardly, as in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3 to free it from connection with the shaft and stirrup, the trunnions 25 being passed by the necks of the bayonet type slots'2l. The stirrup may then be removed from the terminal portion ii of the shaft by snapping the walls of keyhole slot 28 thereover, the metal defining the mouth of the slot being temporarily spread by flexure during such action. Attach- 5o ment of the stirrup and casing to the shaft may be\ efiect'ed by reversing the aforementioned steps.

It wfll be understood that the terms upper, lower and the like, appearing in the specification or claims are merely to facilitate description of the device, and that the parts may readily be inverted or disposed at any desired inclination, as for example, when the wiper shaft I4 is at the bottom or at a side edge of the windshield, rather than at the top edge as shown.

It will be understood further that the device illustrated and described is merely illustrative of said terminal portion, a casing member housing the end of the shaft including said terminal portion and having a part engaged with said seat for pivotal movement relative thereto, a stirrup member having one end slidably engaged with said terminal portion for movement toward or away from the shaft proper and having its other endpivotally engaged with the casing member, awiper arm carried by one of said members, and a coiled spring mounted upon said terminal portion and engaging said one end of the stirrup member for urging the latter away from the shaft proper.

2. In a windshield cleaner, a wiper shaft having a shoulder thereon and a terminal portion extending substantially normal to theshaft proper and on the opposite diametrical side of the shaft proper from said shoulder, a housing member disposed over said terminal portion and seating upon the shaft behind said shoulder, a stirrup member slidably mounted upon said terminal portion and engaged with said casing, a compression spring upon said terminal portion and pressing against said stirrup member for urging the latter away from the shaft proper, and a wiper arm connected to one of said members.

v .3. In a windshield cleaner, a wiper shaft having an angularly extending part, a casing member pivoted to the wiper shaft, a stirrup member within the casing member and having. a part mounted upon and guided by the shaft part for movement in a path angularly with respect to the axis of the shaft proper, said'stirrup member having a portion pivotally engaged with said casing, spring means within said casing member and acting between the shaft and stirrup member for urging movement of the latter along said path, and a wiperarm carried by one of said members.

4. In a windshield cleaner, a wiper shaft 'having a terminal portion extending radially from the shaft proper, a casing member of elongate form pivoted upon the shaft proper and extending over the terminal portion, said casing comprising a front wall in front of said terminal portion andflanges extending rearwardly from the front wall, a coiled spring upon said terminal portion, a stirrup member substantially parallelling said front wall and cooperating with the casing member to encase the spring, said stirrup having its lower end formed to embrace and slide upon said terminal portion and engage the lower end of said spring and its upper end pivoted to the flanges of the casing member, and a wiper arm carried by one of said members.

5. In a windshield cleaner, a wiper shaft having a terminal portion extending radially. from the shaft proper, a member pivoted to the shaft and having side walls extending along said terminal portion, a coiled spring upon the terminal portion, a stirrup member having one end slidably engaging the terminal portion and said spring and having trunnions formed on the other end thereof, said side walls having recesses formed therein receiving said trunnions, and a wiper arm carried by one of said members.

6. In a windshield cleaner wiper arm mount- .ing, a shaft having a shouldered portion and a terminal portionextending therefrom and radially of the shaft on the side thereof diametrically opposed to said shoulder, a casing of elongate form extending about said shoulder and terminal portions and having a part bearing upon the shaft behind the shoulder, said casing having walls lying on opposite sides of the terminal portion, the rear edges of said walls having bayonet slots formed therein, a stirrup disposed behind said terminal portion and between said walls, said stirrup having trunnions received in said slots and having a forwardly directed portion embracing and slidable upon said terminal portion, and a coiled spring upon the terminal portion and compressed between the shaft proper and said forwardly directed portion of the stirrup. v

. ERWIN C. HORTON. 

